Home Security Cameras: Do They Prevent Crime?

It has been almost a year since a stranger broke into Brandon Newman's home while he was asleep.

His bedroom was pulled apart, items dumped outside and a couple of $100 notes stolen.

"I didn't even care about the stolen money," he said.

At the time, Mr Newman was on strong sleeping medication, but since then, he has stopped taking it for fear of being broken into again.

"Ever since, my anxiety has definitely been a lot worse, especially with going to sleep at night," he said.

While Mr Newman was already vigilant with home security before the incident, he felt he had to take further steps.

"I went and got security cameras about two days after it happened," he said.

"It's definitely given me a big sense of security and knowing that I can have visual footage of what's going on at my house, even if I'm not home."

He is not the only one.

Falling technology costs and security concerns have seen more people buying home cameras, but are they effective at stopping crime?

Cameras don't prevent crime

According to the Director of the Centre for Law and Protection at Deakin University Professor Shiri Krebs, the purchase of home security cameras has been increasing at "about a 10 or 12 per cent" a year.

"I think it's clear that there is a significant growth," she said.

But Professor Krebs said security cameras were not very effective at preventing crime.

"If security cameras improve home security or security more generally, it's quite minor, if at all," she said.

"There is some literature showing a small decrease in car thefts, but otherwise there is not any kind of systematic or convincing evidence that it does much to protect security more broadly in society.

"There could be different reasons for that. So, the first one could be the privacy paradox that people might care about cameras, but they really just ignore them in real life, and the other thing is that people can use other types of mechanisms to not being identified like a disguise."

She said it was useful as a tool for police and home owners in identifying suspects.

Increasing police use

Murrumbidgee Police District Inspector Glenn Smith said home CCTV have become an integral tool for police investigations.

"It provides critical evidence for us to identify offenders, vehicles and the times that it's occurring," he said.

"It also helps corroborate witness statements and victim accounts and significantly speed up investigations and improve investigation outcomes.

Inspector Smith said home security vision had helped investigations into a spike in aggravated break and enters across the Griffith LGA in the past few months.

Regional areas are subject to more than double the rate of break and enter offences than city counterparts, according to the latest quarterly data from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) ending in March.

While there are 0.7 break and enter offences for every 100,000 homes in Greater Sydney, there were 1.6 offences in regional NSW, including Griffith.

However, Inspector Smith said there was a lot that does not get reported.

"These offenders are going around and they're trying people's doors, generally after dark. If they find the door locked, they just move on."

Camera popularity is growing

Business owner of AMC Automation and Electrical in the Western Riverina, Anthony Condon expanded his business to start providing security camera installation several years ago due to increasing demand.

He said incidents seen on social media and word of mouth prompt people to purchase cameras for "peace of mind."

"As the last few years have gone on, we've definitely seen a lot more [cameras] in town … I'd say over the past two years, we've probably seen at least a 50 per cent increase in business in that area," he said.

"The newer camera systems can act a bit like a security alarm system as well, so they can set up a zone on your property that if a person enters that zone, we can activate flashing lights and a warning alarm system to discourage the person from continuing," he said.

While police never caught the intruders who broke into Mr Newman's house, he feels more prepared if it happens again.

"They broke into my house once; how do I know they're not going to do it again and just hide their face, but at least I've got some sort of protection."